Written By Sally Habeeb
BACK pain can be divided into two basic categories: Acute and chronic. Acute pain comes on quickly, either immediately or over a period of several hours, and is often the result of sudden motion or injury that may come from something as simple as lifting up a heavy object, or from an accident or fall. 

On the other hand, chronic back pain comes on slowly, and remains for a very long time, sometimes lasting for months, or even years. It may come and go, but it is never far from our minds, preventing us from enjoying the things we want to do.
While acute and chronic back pain can manifest in different ways, oftentimes, they are interrelated, with the acute problem leading to a chronic one; or just as commonly, with a chronic condition which can be hidden for a long period of time setting off the acute symptoms.
What often happens is that a person may have leaned over and pick up a box, or been vacuuming, twisting back and forth, something like that, and that event sets it off. What sets it up, to begin with, though, was some sort of postural dysfunction that already existed and actually created a weak spot in the spine.
Underlying causes
All too often, the pain is treated without regard for the underlying cause. The site of the pain is rarely the site of dysfunction. You may make the pain subside, but you are not correcting the dysfunction that caused the pain in the first place. If you leave the pain alone and treat the cause, then you have the pain as a monitor for whether or not the therapy is working.

In order to understand the cause of back pain, it is important to understand the anatomy of the spine, and its relationship to the rest of the body. The spine affects and is affected by every movement the body makes. The way you stand, the way you sit, the way you move, the way you pick up and carry objects all have the potential to help or hurt your back.
These are some of the physical factors that can cause or contribute to poor posture and movement, all of which can affect the proper functioning of the spinal column, which leads to back pain:

* Foot, knee and leg alignment
* Muscle strength in legs, buttocks or back, and abdominal protrusion such as from beer belly or pregnancy.
One of the most common postural problems leading to back pain is a twist in the pelvis due to a leg length discrepancy, where the legs actually are different lengths because the pelvis is twisted. This can produce a lateral or side-to-side curvature of the spine, or scoliosis, when it becomes pronounced enough.
When legs, buttocks, back and abdominal muscles become too contracted, or too tight, on one side, they can also produce similar pelvis twists and uneven leg length.
If muscles in acute case are not relaxed, the back problem becomes chronic. Back pain can also be caused by stress, both mental and physical, because, during stressful situations the muscles can exaggerate postural strains or musculoskeletal misalignments.
Other problems can also lead to back pain; for example, gallstone, kidney stone infections, etc., the nerves that go to those organs comes from the spine.
Solution for back pain
Because most cases of back pain are muscular in origin, the pain usually occurs because of the way a person uses, or misuses, his or her body. Faulty habits in the ways a person sits, stands and walks strains the back, pushing and pulling the spine out of alignment, and causing weakness, spasm and sprains in tendons, ligaments and muscles.

The end result is pain, which can be felt either in the back, or referred through the nervous system to other parts of the body. Most back pain can be avoided by taking the simple preventative step of staying in good physical condition.
These include aerobic exercises, stretches, and strengthening exercises such as sit-ups and massages, which help to stabilise the pelvis, progressively increasing the free range of movement of the back. (The author is a qualified massage therapist, and can be reached @ 649-4227)